


believer

by sweetestsight



Series: parallax [6]
Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Slight Smut, Solarpunk AU, Telepathy, this fic has it all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-26 19:20:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19012222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetestsight/pseuds/sweetestsight
Summary: Freddie gets an up-close view of the moment reality comes falling back down like a blanket: he stretches, hums, smiles, shifts and then freezes for a minute before slumping again, this time much less gracefully than before. The frown lines return immediately to his face.Freddie kisses one of them. “We’re here.”“Best get on our way, then,” Brian says, rolling out of bed, easily leaving the warm, peaceful space they’ve carved out for themselves.And that’s that.





	believer

They surround him, his lovers: warm skin pressed against his back, a hot mouth trailing down his chest and green eyes crinkling in a ghost of a smile.

John ducks forward to kiss him over Roger’s head, chaste in the circumstances. “You’re so pretty.”

A sigh escapes his lips.

That makes his smile tug at the corners of his mouth now, too. “So good for us. Are you gonna be good?”

Pleasure is moving sluggish through his veins, dizzying and slow like molasses and _hot_ , almost too hot. His head spins until it falls backward onto the shoulder behind him, his eyes drifting shut. A mouth latches against his neck and that feels good too, sets him alight from a new angle and adds another layer onto the waves. Gravity doesn’t exist. He lets his brain drift aimlessly through the sea of it.

He reaches for John to drag him closer, reaches to push Roger’s shoulders down faster, to do _anything,_ but the next second his wrists are gently grasped and held against his chest. “No, baby,” someone whispers against his neck. “Hands to yourself.”

He forces himself to relax and watches the way it makes John’s eyes light up. “That’s it,” he says. He strokes a hand across his cheek and then tangles it in his hair, giving it a light tug that sends his head spinning again. “You want to behave, don’t you? You just need a little help sometimes.”

He lets out a whine and his voice sounds all wrong, too soft and quiet and low. “I want to be good.”

“I know you do.”

Roger runs a hand along the pane of his stomach, working lower and lower and lower ahead of his mouth. He struggles weakly against the hands around his wrists but they hold fast, tight but comfortable. As soon as he relaxes his arms are shifted gently to be held in one hand instead, the other coming to trail across his throat before gripping his chin to turn his head to the side. Freddie smiles at him before—

Wait.

Wait, _he’s_ Freddie. That’s not right.

He snaps awake.

Sunlight is filtering through the window and landing on the bedspread. The sky is dark and starry, giving way to the silver-blue of an atmosphere below. They’re descending.

Brian is spooned behind him. He knows it’s Brian; he doesn’t have to turn to look. He can tell by the way his nose is pressed to the crown of Freddie’s head and his hand is in a loose fist against his chest. He can tell by his smell and his breathing and how he’s hard against Freddie’s thigh.

He rolls over anyway just so he can see his face, and as soon as he settles Brian pulls him close again, grumbling sleepily and tangling their legs together. He wishes he could let him sleep; he wishes he could let him keep drifting in fantasies of the future, of the four of them together.

Brian takes that wish away with a slow inhale and a fluttering of eyelashes.

Freddie gets an up-close view of the moment reality comes falling back down like a blanket: he stretches, hums, smiles, shifts and then freezes for a minute before slumping again, this time much less gracefully than before. The frown lines return immediately to his face.

Freddie kisses one of them. “We’re here.”

“Best get on our way, then,” Brian says, rolling out of bed, easily leaving the warm, peaceful space they’ve carved out for themselves.

And that’s that.

Roger is already running through the landing sequences in rapid fire when the two of them step onto the bridge. He gives them a tight smile as they enter. “There’s a mining colony a ways ahead. They get regular traffic into the piece of shit moon we found you on, Fred. It looks like the place.”

Freddie nods shortly. It looks like it from the readings on one of the screens before them: air a little short on oxygen, gravity a bit too heavy on the bones, soil that can grow nothing but rocks. “How many in the mines?” he asks.

“Bioscan shows…zero people below the surface.”

“Is it broken?” Brian asks, frowning. “The soil could be interfering with the mechanism.”

“This is state-of-the-art,” Roger says, a touch defensive. “Zero below ground. A bit more than 300 on the surface.”

“You’re sure?” Freddie asks.

“Sure. They could’ve let the labor unit above ground for a breather, right?”

Freddie shakes his head. “We didn’t get surface time.”

The landing gear hits the sand with a dull clunk, the three of them silent for one tense moment while the ship bounces on its suspension. Finally it creaks to a halt and they share an expectant look.

 “We’re here now, anyway,” Roger says. “Do you want to take a look, or…?”

“Darling, we might as well,” Freddie says hesitantly.

The three of them climb silently down to the loading bay. Brian thumbs the button and the ramp lowers slowly, sunlight moving through the room.

Even before it’s open completely Freddie knows they’re in the right place.

He closes his eyes and lets the smell of the air hit him, dry and stale and itching in his throat. If he lets himself sink into it he can feel cloth covering his face and metal against his wrists, the stench of unwashed bodies. Roger and Brian’s slow breathing fades into quick breaths of panic from the people beside him. He can sense John at his side even with the blindfold, and he strains his wrists behind himself until he can nudge at his hip with the side of his fist. John’s breath jerks in surprise and fear before he gives Freddie a tiny nudge back. At least they’re together.

“Freddie?”

He opens his eyes. The desert stretches before him. Roger is looking at him, eyes concerned.

“I’m alright,” he says quickly. “It’s okay. Come on.”

Side by side the three of them start down the ramp, squinting into the sun.

“What’s the plan here?” Brian mutters. “Aren’t we kind of rushing in guns blazing?”

“I thought that was the plan,” Roger replies.

“We were a little more put together when we went to get Fred.”

“There doesn’t need to be a plan. We’ll buy him back,” Freddie supplies.

“Where are we going to get the money for that?”

“Like that’s going to be an issue? When the traffickers came they bought me for thirty thousand.”

Brian frowns. “That’s horrible.”

“Right? Ten grand off market price, but then I guess I was damaged property by then.”

“No,” Roger says. “He means it’s horrible that they can even put a price on human life like that at all.”

Freddie rolls his eyes. “I know _that._ I’m just saying it was a little offensive.”

“Guys,” Brian starts.

“The whole thing is offensive,” Roger argues. “You don’t need to pick and choose which bits are the worst. It was all horrible, not to mention illegal.”

“Like we haven’t done an illegal thing in our lives?” Freddie laughs with false levity.

“There’s acts of rebellion, and then there’s selling slave labor into the sex trade. Hell, there’s keeping slave labor at all.”

“Guys,” Brian says again.

“Look,” Freddie rushes, ignoring the hand Brian places on his arm. “The point is John’s been here too long for them to consider him an important member of the unit anymore. They always want new labor. It’ll be a benefit to them that we take him off their hands. It’s a simple transaction.”

“Okay. We buy him back and then we murder the people who bought you guys in the first place. Then we free everybody else. How’s that for a plan?”

“ _Guys,”_ Brian snaps.

The two of them look up. Three hundred sets of eyes look back.

“Oh,” Freddie says.

The people before them are scrawny, yellow-clad and gaunt. Their skin is filthy with grime, and Freddie can already see a few of the paler ones developing nasty sunburns in the harsh light even beneath the dirt on their faces and the canopies stretched above them as makeshift barriers. Despite that their glares are fiercely hostile.

One of the younger ones steps forward. “Who the fuck are you?” she calls.

Freddie takes a step toward her, shaking Brian off when he tries to grab him. He makes his way quickly to the girl, ignoring the threatening stances of the others. Squinting, he reads the number pinned to her chest. “5338. Does that make you one of the older ones or the younger?”

She frowns. “Experienced enough to help take out all the guards. Experienced enough to take you out, too.”

She’s been around a while no matter how he figures it, then. His heart sinks. If 5338 is a senior member of the unit then at number 4861 John must be little more than a memory.

“Leave him be!” someone calls.

The girl huffs. “Why should I?”

“I know him! Move! He’s from the Dog Star! I know him!”

She steps aside hesitantly and a man jogs through the crowd. When he reaches Freddie he promptly slams him into a bear hug.

Even under his less than heavy frame Freddie staggers and gasps. He returns the embrace, even just to support the man’s weight.

“Freddie,” he whispers.

Recognition hits like a bolt. “Kenny?”

The man nods against his shoulder.

“How the fuck—”

“I knew someone from home had been here. _I knew it._ I heard the song.”

“From our town?”

“I knew someone would come looking. Too many people disappeared for there not to be—"

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Freddie rushes. “I thought you were still on Primus. How the fuck did you—"

“Primus is dead. I ran—”

“Orion?”

“No. No, Regulus,” Kenny babbles. “Star’s Needle, you know?”

Freddie senses more than sees Roger stiffen beside him.

“And then foreigners came offering us better pay abroad. We got sent here.”

Freddie inhales slowly and pulls him closer. “Kenny—"

“It was their own undoing in the end,” Kenny adds with a burst of laughter. “Taking in well-fed laborers? We’re strong enough. We were never heavily guarded here, anyway. They were relying on us not being able to communicate well enough to stage a revolt.”

“You took them down?”

“Every last one. We buried them under rubble in the mine.”

Freddie swallows. “Did you lose anyone?”

“A few.”

“I’m looking for—"

“I know. I know you are. Fiery thing with green eyes, right?”

“How’d you know?”

Now it’s Kenny’s turn to pause. “I heard your song,” he says hesitantly. “He was half out of his mind. I didn’t tell him to stop singing. It looked like he needed it.”

He shudders. “Where is he? Is he alright?”

“Freddie, he isn’t here.”

“The revolt didn’t kill him, did it? I would’ve—”

“No, he was snagged out about four days ago.”

“Traffickers?” Freddie asks, almost scared for an answer.

“Government bigwigs. Some of the Guard came to take him maybe a day or so after I showed up.”

“Do you know where they went?”

Kenny shakes his head, a sharp gesture. “I’m sorry. Deneb is my best guess, but he could be anywhere.”

He lets himself let go of Kenny finally and slump backward. Brian catches him easily and Freddie tunes everyone else out as Roger does his best to console Kenny from his frantic pace.

“It’s alright, Fred,” Brian whispers in his ear.

Freddie allows his heart to sink, then expand. He closes his eyes and allows his mind to trace over the three nodes worked into his very soul: there’s one, cool and turbulent and resting nearby; another burns hot and bright just beyond.

The third is barely even a distinct force, but when he prods it he feels a giddy sort of exhaustion prod faintly back.

“He’s okay. He has to be okay.”

“Freddie…”

“Brian, he’s _fine,_ ” he says firmly.

Brian holds him tighter and all at once he feels a cool wave of comfort and raw grief trickle through the front of his mind. He embraces it without even thinking, covers it with every bit of warmth he can rustle up, and it changes abruptly from pained to startled.

Brian pulls back abruptly. Hazel eyes meet his own, full of wonder and shock.

He looks like he’s about to speak, but at the last second he hesitates and reaches out again instead. Freddie can feel him, gentle and curious. He can feel his thoughts and his feelings. He can feel the rhythmic ticking of the sharp gears of his mind, the constant rush of his inner monologue, _what was that warm soft nice I’m going crazy can’t be what was it what was that—_

“Guys, did you hear any of that?” Roger asks, voice tinted with irritation. “Are the two of you stroking out?”

“What?” Brian asks, starting.

Roger rolls his eyes. “They only have one transport ship out of here. It’s an old one the military left behind and the engine is good, but they need some fuel and they’ll still have a hundred people to move after that.”

“Can we even carry a hundred?”

“After the last engine upgrade John did we should be able to carry twice that.”

“I don’t like your use of the word ‘should,’” Freddie says. “And what about fuel?”

“We give them half of what we’ve got and we should still both be able to make it a few days,” Roger replies. At their hesitant looks he raises his eyebrows. “What are our other options?”

Freddie looks at the people gathered behind Kenny: their sallow faces and hungry eyes. “Yeah,” he says. “Alright. Orion isn’t too far. We can take them there.”

“Regulus isn’t much further,” Roger offers.

“Why would we take them to Regulus?”

“To kill two birds with one stone.”

Freddie frowns and looks to Roger; Roger meets his gaze head on. “Kenny,” he says, not looking away, “Can you find someone to transfer half of our fuel over to the other ship? The hose is in our loading bay, dear.”

“Got it,” Kenny says quickly, turning to start relaying the information to the people around him.

Freddie waits until he’s far enough away that he can’t hear them before speaking. “Regulus?”

“There’s work there,” Roger says instantly. “Good hospitals. A few trade posts along the way if they want to bail early. They’ll be safe, and I need to check in on things there anyway. It’s a good move and you know it.”

“There are better.”

“I don’t see one.”

“We drop them on Orion,” Freddie supplies. “We can get them food and water, find them transports wherever they need to go—”

“Alnitak-2 doesn’t have the facilities and you know it.”

“Kana will take care of them,” Freddie says flatly. “You know she will, and in the meantime we can keep the airwaves open for any information about John.”

“We can keep them open just as easily somewhere else,” Roger argues.

Freddie huffs. “Brian?”

Brian looks between the two of them, wide-eyed. “Alnitak does have a better network in place for things like this,” he starts hesitantly.

“Bullshit. You drop them on the Star’s Needle and I’ll find each of them a job or a way home myself,” Roger snaps. When he’s met with blank stares he glowers. “Are you really arguing with me on this? You heard him. They’ve started taking people, _my_ people. I need to be there.”

“Roger, we need to regroup,” Freddie argues. “Orion is our best chance of checking in. Maybe someone will have heard something or maybe not. Either way we have a much higher chance of hearing something about John there than we do on Regulus-3.”

Roger shakes his head, and Freddie is a little horrified to see his eyes are wet. “John would agree with me,” he says mutinously.

“Roger—”

“No, _shut up._ He would. You’ve barely set foot on your home world since you were a kid,” he throws at Freddie, “and Bri, you’ve never had a home world at all, have you? You don’t get it. I hate my home. I hate everything about it but my people are there and they’re in trouble. They’re being fucking poached to work in a shithole like this and you want me to look the other way?”

“We have to,” Brian mutters, though he doesn’t sound sure. “You said so yourself. We get him back or we die trying.”

“Tell me that if slave drivers came to Calderas-4 and started snatching people up John wouldn’t go home immediately.”

“If you were missing?”

“If I were missing I’d be praying that he’d left me behind.”

Brian shakes his head. “You’re a fucking hypocrite. We promised each other—”

“I’m not giving up on him—"

“You told me we weren’t giving up!” Brian shouts finally, pulling away from Freddie abruptly. “We’ll spend the rest of our lives if we bloody well have to! That’s what you told me, or are you not remembering that?”

“Of course I remember that!”

“They need us? He needs us too! How can you just forget that?”

“Brian, I’m not fucking giving up!” Roger all but roars. “Listen to me!” It’s loud enough that heads snap their way, but before the situation can escalate further he steps forward to cradle Brian’s face between his palms, brushing away tears Freddie didn’t even notice falling. “We’re going to find him,” Roger says, voice wobbling once but otherwise firm.

Brian leans forward, hands clasped loosely around Roger’s wrists. “You said we wouldn’t stop. We can’t stop.”

“We aren’t stopping. We’re—fuck. He’s all alone out there but he’s strong, okay? He knows we’re never going to give up on him. Nothing can stop us, but I need to do this first. Just for a few days. I need to know my family is alright. Okay?”

Brian shudders and presses their foreheads together, breathing in slowly and shaky. After a long minute he nods. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs.

Roger just traces a thumb over his cheek. A silent tear finally falls down his face.

It occurs to Freddie all at once: in all their years together he’s never once seen them like this. His time away changed him in a way he’s not sure he can even comprehend and no doubt has changed John as well, but he didn’t realize how much it had changed Brian and Roger, too. He’s doing his best to fill out the spaces between his ribs and stop getting twitchy in dark places, but where he’s sunk deep into his own nerves Brian’s and Roger’s are raw in a way he’d never imagined was possible

“I’ll pilot the other ship,” he finds himself saying.

Roger turns to him finally, eyes red. “Are you sure you can?”

“Yes,” Freddie nods, and all at once he knows what he needs to do. “Yes, darling. I can do that, but I won’t be flying it to Regulus.”

Brian pulls back. “What?”

“There’s no doubt that some of these people will want to go one direction and some in the other. I was one of them once. There are a good deal from the Star’s Needle here but a good deal from Nova Terra, too. I’d hate to only be able to please half of them. Besides, what you said about having better chances to find John there was right.”

The two of them stare at him dumbly. “I’ll go with you,” Brian says finally.

“You’ll do no such thing. There’s an ion field between here and Regulus. Roger will need the best navigator in the galaxy to steer him through that.”

“We can’t let you go off on your own after we just got you back,” Roger says.

“You can and you will.”

“Freddie,” Brian says.

“Brimi, I’ll be fine.”

Brian pulls away from Roger only to pull Freddie close instead; Freddie meets Roger’s eyes over his shoulder. “Go to Regulus,” he tells them both. “I’ll have the airwaves open the entire time. Do what you need to do, check in with everyone there, and if you have any stragglers bring them to Alnitak. I’ll be waiting there with Kana and I’ll have a new lead on John by the time you arrive.”

Brian squeezes him once before letting him go, sniffling. Roger immediately takes his place. “I hate when you’re the reasonable one out of all of us,” he huffs.

“Someone’s got to do it, Roggie, and we all know it won’t be you,” he teases. When Roger just hugs him tighter he kisses his hair. “Good luck out there. You do what you have to do, you hear me?”

Roger huffs and moves back just far enough to kiss him, long and deep enough that it makes his toes curl. He sighs and leans into it, dazed when Roger leans back. “Stay safe,” Roger breathes against his lips. “Don’t take shit from anyone. We’ll see you soon.” He pecks his lips one more time. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Freddie says. He stares at him a moment longer and then blinks abruptly when he finds himself not wanting to look away. He turns and walks a few paces and raises his voice. “Everyone going toward Orion, with me! We’re taking everyone we can on the transport! Everyone else will be going on the other ship!”

“Where to?” someone calls.

“Regulus!” Roger calls back. “Star’s Needle, and all the outposts on the way!”

People immediately begin rushing to and fro, bags of food and bundles of old clothes being pushed this way and that.

Freddie looks back to Roger and Brian. Roger nods to him once, jaw set and determined, before he turns and walks toward where their ship is shining a ways away.

Brian meets his eyes and Freddie holds his gaze for a long moment—long enough to take in the grief, long enough that he can almost swear he feels Brian reaching out. Between one second and the next the space between them is filled with people and Brian is lost in the crowd.

He doesn’t wait to try to find him again. He turns, falls into step with Kenny and starts toward the old transporter.

**Author's Note:**

> Some developments with their whole weird telepathy bond thing? Some developments with the John situation? Some developments on Roger's backstory? Lot going on here but we're nearing the end of the line so naturally things gotta heat up, right? Let me know if you have any questions or anything. I love to hear from you guys. The comments last time made my day, I love ya!
> 
> Anyone got any discord groups for writing/shipping/that sort of thing? If not would you guys want to start one? Asking for a friend


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